


Babysitting Aunt Jill

by storm_8



Series: Joys of Motherhood [27]
Category: Women's Murder Club (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-18
Updated: 2013-06-18
Packaged: 2017-12-15 09:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/847820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_8/pseuds/storm_8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Denise is called to a case, leaving a very pregnant Jill in the care of Ash and Lily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the show or its characters. I merely borrow them for everyone's enjoyment.  
> I do own the original characters: I am quite fond of them!  
> All mistakes are mine.

Lindsay knocked on apartment door 308 and took a step back, glancing at her watch and waiting for someone to open the door. There was a muffled shout from inside followed by a louder shrill. Lily and Ashley looked at each other and giggled. Their mother wanted to admonish them, but the reprimand got stuck at the back of her throat when a slightly dishevelled Denise opened the door. Lindsay wanted to laugh, but figured it wasn’t really appropriate.

 

“Thank God you’re here…” The woman muttered, putting on her shoes. “Remind me again why I agreed to this is in the first place…”

 

“Because you love aunt Jill?” Ashley offered, grinning widely.

 

“Or maybe because you loved whatever aunt Jill _did_ to convince you…?” Lily added, only to be slapped over the head by her mother.

 

“ _Lily_!” She hissed and glanced at her watch again.

 

Denise glared at her nieces for good measure, finally slipping on her jacket and grabbing her briefcase. “There’s food in the fridge and my number is taped-”

 

“On the fridge door, we know. We’ve only done this a few hundred times before…” Ashley finished for her, peeking into the apartment.

 

“Right. And don’t let her anywhere near the kitchen. Normal Jill is dangerous enough, but pregnant, cheesecake craving Jill is cataclysmic.” Denise stepped out and turned slightly. “Jill! I’m leaving! Ash and Lily are here, call me if you need anything!” She shouted back inside.

 

Lily giggled at the sharp retort that came from the depths of the apartment.

 

Lindsay raised an eyebrow and smirked. “She’s in a mood today, humm?”

 

“No more so than usual.” Denise replied, already on her way to the stairs.

 

“We can handle her, mom. Not to worry.” Ashley assured. “Apparently your mood swings were much worse when you were pregnant with me.” She added cheekily and scurried inside.

 

“I see that even pregnant she’s still giving out blackmail material…” Lindsay scowled, glaring after her departed brunette daughter.

 

“Course she is mom, but imagine all the blackmail you’re getting on her as well…” Lily said conspiratorially, hugging her mother and closing the door when the two women left. Lindsay left for work, smirking evilly to herself.

 

******

 

Ashley and Lily found their beloved aunt in the bedroom, buried underneath a mountain of fluffy pillows.

 

“Aunt Jill, are you alright?” Lily asked, suppressing more giggles. A muffled grunt was her only reply.

 

“Maybe she wants more cheesecake…” Ashley said conversationally and laughed at the head that immediately popped up from the fluffy pile.

 

“Did you say cheesecake?” Jill asked, glancing suspiciously at the girls standing in the doorway.

 

“Yep!” Lily nodded. “Three different kinds actually. Mom’s way of apologizing for ruining your evening with aunt Denise.”

 

The blonde’s eyes lit up. Ashley chuckled and made her way around to the side of the bed the woman was occupying. “Come on.” She urged. “We’ll even tell you what we know about this case mom and aunt Denise were called in for at the last minute…”

 

She helped the very pregnant woman out of bed and the sisters watched in amusement as their aunt quickly, or as quickly as her belly allowed, waddled out of the room in search of the promised cheesecake.

 

******

 

Comfortably settled on the couch, Jill grabbed the offered plate with a good chunk of chocolate cheesecake and sighed happily. Ashley handed another plate to Lily and sat on the floor with her own.

 

“So, has the baby kicked again?” Lily inquired.

 

“Kicking is all he does nowadays…” Jill complained good-naturedly, patting her swollen belly. “So! Tell me about this case…” She playfully ordered, bad mood completely forgotten.

 

“Well, mom wasn’t really happy about being called in…” Lily started and then leaned in conspiratorially. “I think she was planning some romantic thingy for the evening. I was supposed to stay at friend’s and Ash was going to Sam’s…”

 

Jill chuckled. “Well, it wasn’t only her evening that got ruined. But who died?”

 

“From what I understood amidst all the ringing phones in the house, no one actually died. But a little girl is missing and they called mom ‘cause she is the best.” Ashley stated, smiling proudly.

 

“I bet Jacobi said that to her to convince her to go to the crime scene…” Jill said, swallowing another spoonful of cheesecake. “What about Cindy?”

 

“She says she wants to quit.” Lily replied. At her aunt’s raised eyebrow, she elaborated. “Says her boss always calls her at the most inopportune times and doesn’t pay her enough to work all that over time.”

 

“She loves her job!”

 

Ashley nodded. “She does, and our other mom has promised that she’ll go threaten mom’s boss into giving her a promotion one of these days. I told her she should make it her next anniversary gift for mom, otherwise she may forget it again!”

 

Jill laughed and requested more cheesecake.

 

*****

 

Cindy weaved through the crowd, trying to get a good look at the crime scene. At least that was what it looked like to the casual observer. More accurately, she was trying to position herself in such a way so she could maybe sneak in unnoticed and meet her friends inside the house where the girl had been taken from.

 

She was already one foot past the tape when a shadow fell over her and she winced. She straightened, finding Lindsay looking down at her, arms crossed over her chest. “Exactly what do you think you’re doing, Ms. Thomas?”

 

“She was trespassing!” said one of the other reporters. Cindy turned and glared at the insufferable blonde from Channel 7. The woman was constantly trying to get her in trouble.

 

“At least I didn’t offer to give a lap dance to an officer last week…” The redhead said casually, giving the other reporter a dirty look. Lindsay raised an eyebrow at that.

 

The blonde reporter growled and advanced on the redhead. “Why I oughta…”

 

“ _Ought_ to what, Miss…?” The inspector asked in her best authoritative voice.

 

The reporter stopped and looked at Lindsay as if the answer should be obvious. “Simms. Michaela Simms, from Channel 7?” She waved to the van parked a few feet away.

 

The inspector wasn’t impressed. “I don’t watch Channel 7, so I wouldn’t know…” The reporter looked affronted.

 

Cindy snorted, but immediately turned serious when the two women glanced at her, Michaela glaring and Lindsay giving her a warning look.

 

“Now, Miss Simms, if you’ll excuse us, I need to have a word with Ms. Thomas. And do not even attempt to cross this tape. I will know if you do.” The inspector said, waving a hand towards Officer Montoya, who Cindy liked to call ‘the female Hulk’. She grabbed her lover by the arm and dragged her away, leaving a flabbergasted blonde reporter behind glancing warily at Officer Montoya.

 

******

 

Cindy let out a giggle once they stepped into the house. Lindsay gave her an amused glare.

 

“What? It was quite funny. Her face when you asked her name was hilarious! Her ego is bruised…” The reporter said merrily.

 

“Why is it that I always find you either trespassing, bickering with another reporter, climbing through windows, sneaking in through garages, hiding in bushes, batting those eyes at Officer Montoya…” Lindsay ticked off with her fingers, a smirk forming on her lips.

 

Cindy huffed. “I like to improvise! And I do not bat my eyes at Officer Montoya. She already thinks I’m cute! I leave the eye batting for you…” The inspector chuckled and, in a very uncharacteristic move, hugged the reporter, burying her nose in red tresses.

 

Thankful that the hallway they were in was empty, the redhead returned the hug. “That bad?” She asked quietly.

 

Lindsay sighed, her headache only easing a fraction.


	2. Chapter 2

“You know, if you keep eating so much cheesecake, you’ll always look like that, even after the baby is born…” Lily commented. She had to duck when a pillow was thrown her way.

 

“Do not make fun of the pregnant woman!” Jill said, waving a fist in the air. She grunted when the baby gave a strong kick. “Ha, Tyler agrees with me!”

 

“Tyler?” Ashley asked, handing another plate with a cheesecake slice to her aunt. “You finally decided on a name?”

 

“I like it!” Lily exclaimed, plopping down on the couch next to the attorney and laying a hand on the woman’s belly. “Hello, Tyler!” She giggled when she felt the baby kick. “He likes it too!”

 

Jill sighed happily, eating another piece of cheesecake. “Yes, we’ve decided. After much arguing and disagreeing…”

 

“Mostly on your part, I bet…” Ashley grinned.

 

Her aunt frowned, pointing a fork. “I have every right to argue and disagree all I want! I’m the one who’s put on more weight than a humpback whale!”

 

The girls burst out laughing hysterically. Jill just grinned and went back to her cheesecake.

 

******

 

Claire walked into the busy bullpen and spotted her inspector friend, desk phone pressed to one ear and cell phone to the other. She made her way over, setting the coffees she was carrying on the desk and sitting on a chair next to it.

 

“Yes, we are doing the best we can…” A pause “The Lieutenant is still at the house, so you’ll have to call his cell to talk to him…” Lindsay glared at the phone and pulled it away from her ear as the yelling coming from the other end increased. She focused on her partner instead. “So, the mother didn’t see him? …And has no idea who it might have been?” The inspector sighed. “What about the maid? Have the doctors said anything ye- What? Are you serious? … Damn!” Lindsay glanced at Claire, who nodded. “Yeah, Claire knows… I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up her cell phone and after a few seconds of deliberation, hung up her desk phone as well, cutting off the man on the other side mid-rant.

 

“Have some coffee.” Claire handed one of the cups to her friend.

 

Lindsay took a sip, taking a moment to enjoy the caramel flavour, and then sighed. “So, the maid didn’t make it… And Mrs. Jones didn’t see whoever burst through the front door and then knocked her over the head and kidnapped her daughter…”

 

“I sent my assistant to pick up the body from the hospital. Maybe there’s some evidence…” The M.E. didn’t sound convinced though. “And Jacobi?”

 

“He’s still at the crime scene, interviewing the neighbours. So far they’ve seen…” She glanced at her notepad. “A black car, could have been an SUV… A uni got some grainy footage from one of the houses… Apparently the man who lives there is a bit paranoid and installed surveillance cameras around his house…” She slid a folder across the desk with the pictures.

 

Claire raised an eyebrow, to which Lindsay just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

 

“I’m sending these to Jill, see if Ashley can discern what car it is. I swear that girl knows more about cars than a mechanic or any of the characters from that ‘Fast and Furious’ movie series…” She picked up her cell and dialled.

 

The other woman chuckled. “And just how do you even know about that movie series?”

 

Lindsay gave her friend an amused look. “I watched them with Ashley once… And did you know she actually fixed Sam’s car just last week?”

 

“I didn’t fix anything, mom.” The girl said from the other end of the line. “It was only an old wiring that needed replacing and-”

 

“Yes, yes, whatever. Now listen, does Jill have her computer on?”

 

“Humm, yeah. Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker…” There was some shuffling around and an exclamation about cheesecake, before Ashley’s voice was heard again. “Okay… So, what’s up? Oh, and did you know that the baby now has a name?”

 

Lindsay chuckled at her daughter’s enthusiasm. “Yes, Denise told me. So, Jill, I’m sending you an email with some footage from a car that might belong to the kidnapper. See if Ash can figure out what car it is…”

 

“Right on!” The girl exclaimed and then disappeared to her aunt’s office to get her laptop. Lily giggled.

 

“So how’s the case going?” Jill asked around a mouthful of cheesecake.

 

“She’s eating cheesecake again…” Lindsay whispered to Claire and put her phone on speaker as well.

 

“I heard that! Who are you talking to?” The attorney asked.

 

The M.E. chuckled. “It’s me. I see the girls managed to improve your bad mood again. It’s amazing what a little bribery can do…”

 

Jill huffed in annoyance and Lily laughed.

 

“But how are you feeling? How’s baby Tyler?”

 

“Baby Tyler is fine, enjoying the cheesecake as much as I am. Although I’m more than ready to be done with this pregnancy. This whole ‘going to the toilet every five minutes’ is getting extremely old. And I would like to be able to move around without my back and feet hurting. And more importantly I miss sex!”

 

Lindsay choked on her coffee, nearly spilling it all over her desk and herself.

 

“Aunt Jill!!” Lily exclaimed amidst a fit of giggles.

 

“What? It’s true, I miss-”

 

“Here, have some more cheesecake.” Ashley came to the rescue, handing another plate to her aunt. “We really don’t want to know.”

 

Claire chuckled, imagining her niece’s expression.

 

“Hey mom?”

 

“Uhh, I’m here.” The woman replied, clearing her throat and cleaning the few drops of spilt coffee off her desk. “You know what car it is?”

 

“Well, I’m pretty sure it’s a Ford Explorer, but I can’t tell whether it’s a second or third generation… This video is very grainy and completely unfocused…”

 

“It’s probably from an old man who set it up without his glasses…” Lily commented.

 

Lindsay frowned. “How did you know that? Did mom call you?”

 

Lily grimaced and Ashley shook her head in dismay. “Uh, no…” the redhead teen replied hesitantly.

 

“Lily, you’re a worse liar than your mother.” Jill said.

 

“I am not!” The girl defended and then started bickering with her aunt.

 

Ashley grabbed the phone and left the room, returning to her aunt’s office.

 

“Anyway, as I said it’s a Ford Explorer, but I can’t be more specific. Sorry mom.”

 

“It’s ok. But what did you mean about the generation?” Lindsay questioned, making a few notes on her notepad.

 

“Oh, every generation of cars has a few differences compared to the previous generation. Like, the manufacturers change the dimensions of the car, the engine, transmission and so on. Actually, if you can get me the height of the car I could in principle tell you whether it’s second or third generation. It might help… Second generation was in production between 2003 and 2006, and the third from 2007 till now…”

 

Lindsay was impressed by the girl’s knowledge. Claire wore an amused expression.

 

“Do you get all of this information from those magazines you read? Because every time I look at them, I only see gibberish…”

 

“Mom!” Ashley said with a laugh. “It’s not gibberish. ‘Sides, better that than Lily’s magazines about dating, make-up and hair tips…” Both women laughed.

 

“Alright, thanks. I’ll see if I can have one of the techs figure out the height of the vehicle. I’ll let you know… Take care of Jill and don’t pester her too much.”

 

“No problem. And we don’t pester aunt Jill, she pesters us… Always having us getting her cheesecake and pillows and socks and whatever!”

 

Lindsay chuckled again and after a quick goodbye, hung up the phone.

 

******

 

_Three hours later, around 10 p.m. …_

 

Ashley had been watching the news, or lack thereof, on her mother’s case, when a snore broke her concentration. She glanced over her shoulder at her aunt, who was asleep, head on the back of the couch and snoring.

 

She poked Lily with a foot. The girl glanced up from her magazine and the brunette gestured with her thumb toward their aunt. The redhead giggled quietly and her sister fished out her cell phone from her jeans’ pocket to take a few pictures.

 

Ashley smirked evilly, showing Lily the pictures, Jill still snoring.

 

“We should probably wake her up and get her to bed…” The younger girl said and giggled again.

 

“Yeah…” The brunette agreed, putting her phone away and approaching the couch. Poking the woman on the shoulder, she tried waking Jill up. “Auntie Jill!” She said in a singsong voice. “Wake up!”

 

The woman just mumbled something about cheesecake and turned her head. Lily burst into a fit of giggles.

 

Ashley huffed. “Aunt Jill!! Wake up!” This time she shook the woman’s shoulder.

 

The attorney opened one eye and glared at her niece. “What??”

 

“Oh, nothing.” The girl replied sarcastically. “I just thought maybe you’d want to sleep in your bed, but maybe I should let you stay on the uncomfortable couch instead…” Lily burst out laughing.

 

Jill glared some more, but then held out her hands to be helped to her feet. “Alright, help me up…” Ashley did and watched as the woman waddled to the bathroom. She burst out laughing as well.

 

******

 

Denise walked up to her desk, just as Lindsay hung up her phone. “Here’s the search warrant for the ex-husband’s house and Ford Explorer.” She set the file on the desk. “Was that Ash?”

 

Lindsay smirked. “Yeah, she said Jill had fallen asleep on the couch and was snoring. She took pictures too!”

 

“You enjoy this too much…” The attorney commented.

 

“Well, she tells all sorts of things that she shouldn’t to my daughters, so it’s only fair they get me some embarrassing pictures of her.”

 

Denise shook her head in dismay.

 

“But Jill is on her way to bed, so no need to worry… Let’s go pay Mr. Jones a visit…” The inspector grabbed her gun and jacket and followed Denise out.


	3. Chapter 3

Ashley had been washing the dishes when a loud ‘Holy crap!’ came from the bathroom down the hall. Lily jumped up from her spot on the floor to see what was going on.

 

A few seconds later another, much louder, yell was heard that nearly caused the brunette to drop the plate she was drying. “ASH!!!!”

 

“What??!!” She yelled back, setting the plate down and exiting the kitchen.

 

“Call aunt Denise! We need to get to the hospital! Aunt Jill’s water just broke…”

 

Ashley was so surprised, that she tripped over the carpet and landed on the floor with a thud in her haste to get to the phone.

 

******

 

Lindsay marched up the steps to Mr. Jones’ front door and knocked sharply. “Mr. Jones? San Francisco PD! Open the door!”

 

She glanced briefly to the street, where a few curious onlookers we’re already gathering and some news vans were already parked. How those reporters got there before the police did she didn’t want to know.

 

There was a crash inside the house. The inspector and the three officers with her immediately drew their guns. “Mr. Jones?” Lindsay called again.

 

Glass shattered somewhere at the back of the house and the brunette sprung into action. She sent two of the officers toward the back and kicked the door in, the third officer covering her.

 

Two shots were fired and a child screamed.

 

“Mr. Jones! Stop!” Lindsay yelled moving down the hall, catching a glimpse of the man jumping out the window and running for his car that was parked near the back of the house.

 

She jumped after him, ordering the officers not to shoot, because of the child. “Mr. Jones!!” She growled, running after him.

 

Unfortunately he managed to get into his car with the child and drive away before she caught up to him. One of the officers grabbed his radio and called dispatch. He was saying that their suspect had gotten away, when the car crashed into another at the intersection down the road and then kept going.

 

“Shit!” Lindsay ran down the street, several lights coming on in the neighbouring houses and people opening their front doors to see what was going on. Her eyes widened and she ran faster, when she recognized the car.

 

“Cindy!” She called, rushing to driver’s side.

 

“Oww, my head…” The redhead muttered from inside. She winced when she tasted blood.

 

“Cindy!” Lindsay opened the door “Are you alright?”

 

“Linz? What the hell happened?”

 

The inspector was relieved that the injuries on her lover didn’t look serious and helped the woman out of the car and onto the sidewalk. She took off her jacket and then her sweater and pressed it to the reporter’s head. “Our suspect just crashed into you. Are you okay?” She asked again.

 

“I think so… I so should have stayed home… I’m quitting my job!” She grumbled and Lindsay chuckled in relief. Cindy was going to be fine.

 

******

 

“Thank God you’re here!” Was the first thing out of Ashley’s mouth when she opened the door and saw Sam standing on the other side. She rushed back inside and helped her aunt out of the apartment, while her sister grabbed the woman’s bag and keys and locked the door behind them.

 

“No problem.” The blonde said and took Jill’s other arm. “Hi.” She greeted the attorney, who gave her a thin smile in return.

 

They got into the car and Sam immediately drove off. Ashley was in the backseat with her aunt, left hand in the woman’s death grip and cell phone pressed to an ear.

 

“We couldn’t get a hold of our mothers, or aunt Denise, or anybody else, so we called you… They’re all working on this case…” Lily explained.

 

“The girl that has been kidnapped? They were showing it on the news.” Lily nodded. “They said that the guy got away and crashed into another car as he was driving away…”

 

There was a huge sigh of relief from the back. “Oh, hell, that one hurt!” Jill muttered, running a hand through her dishevelled hair.

 

Ashley gave her a glare and shook out her hand, trying to get some feeling back. “I agree with you on that…” She dialled her mother’s number again.

 

******

 

_Half an hour later…_

 

“Well, keep searching! The bastard couldn’t have gotten far. He must be injured, he drove right into someone’s car!” Lindsay slammed her phone shut in utter frustration.

 

“No luck, yet?” Cindy asked, when her lover returned to her side. The inspector shook her head.

 

“Well, Ms. Thomas, you were quite lucky.” Dr. Parker said, tapping some gauze over the redhead’s three stitches.

 

“I still want to quit!” She said with a huff. “I don’t get paid enough to be crashed into by some crazy maniac who kidnaps his own daughter!”

 

The man chuckled. “Please don’t quit. I quite like reading your articles.” That earned him a smile. “Well, that’s it. Make sure you don’t get the stitches wet and come back in a week to take them out.”

 

Lindsay helped her down from the bed and they followed Dr. Parker to get Cindy’s discharge papers. They approached the front desk and the man stopped abruptly.

 

“Sam? What are you doing here?”

 

The girl swivelled around at the sound of her name.

 

“Mom?” Lily asked, noticing her mothers standing behind the doctor.

 

“Lily?” The two women questioned simultaneously. “What are doing in the hospital?” Lindsay asked. “Is everything alright?”

 

“Mom! Ash has been calling you for the past half hour! Wait, why are _you_ in the hospital?”

 

“Oh, will you stop with all the questions?!” Jill demanded, as she was wheeled past by a nurse. “I’m the one who needs medical attention here! Oh, shit!!” She squealed as another contraction made itself known.

 

The three adults blinked in confusion. “I must have hit my head harder than I thought…” Cindy wondered, glancing at her lover.

 

“Who hit her hea- Mom! Finally! I’ve been calling you and aunt Denise since we… Wait… What are you doing here? Are you hurt?” Ashley pointed to her mother’s gauze.

 

“Okay, everybody stop!” Lindsay ordered, rubbing her aching temples. “First, why are you all here? Didn’t I tell you to call me if something happened?”

 

“We did!” Lily exclaimed. “Only you didn’t pick up, neither did mom…” she waved at Cindy. “Or aunt Denise, or uncle Jacobi, or aunt Claire.”

 

“So, Ash called me, saying her aunt’s water had broke and I drove us all to the hospital. I tried calling you too, dad.” Sam intervened.

 

“Lindsay!! Get your ass over here!” Jill yelled from her wheelchair. The poor nurse gave them all a pleading look.

 

They decided to leave the explanations for later and followed the nurse to the maternity ward.

 

******

 

Ashley ran her left hand under cold water, waiting for her mother to come out of the stall. She flexed her fingers and winced when they protested.

 

“What happened to your hand?” Lindsay asked, joining her daughter at the sink and washing her hands.

 

“Aunt Jill in labour happened…”

 

Her mother gave her a sympathetic look. “That bad?”

 

Ashley grinned. “Well, she curses and grunts, and at some point said she wanted more cheesecake…”

 

Lindsay laughed.

 

“She also said she was gonna kill aunt Denise for talking her into it…” The girl added, as they exited the bathroom.

 

“Except Jill was the one who talked Denise into it…”

 

“That’s what Lily said! If looks could kill, you’d have to arrest aunt Jill for murder!” Ashley burst into laughter, her mother joining in.

 

“ _Lindsay_!!” They turned to find the one and only Denise Kwon stomping down the hall towards them, a nurse running after her.

 

“She looks scary…” Ashley hid behind her mother, but couldn’t resist peeking from around her.

 

“What the hell?! I just got a call from Jill’s doctor saying she had been brought in-”

 

“Denise, there’s no need to panic.” Lindsay hastened to explain. “The girls tried calling you and then me and Cindy, but I think with all the commotion at Mr. Jones’ house we didn’t hear it. And weren’t you giving a press conference?”

 

“Well, yes but… commotion?”

 

“You didn’t hear?” Lindsay asked, surprised.

 

“I think there’s a lot of miscommunication going around today…” The teenager commented. “Is this how it was when no cell phones existed? People only heard the news like a week later?”

 

Lindsay and Denise gave her incredulous looks. Ashley burst out laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

Once Denise arrived and all the miscommunication was set right, Jill kicked everyone but her lover out of the room. Or rather yelled everyone out of the room.

 

Lindsay had gone outside the building to catch up on her case and then went to talk to her partner who was still at the hospital with the girl’s mother, trying to get any information on the woman’s ex-husband and possible motives for him to kidnap his daughter.

 

The three girls and Cindy all made themselves comfortable in the waiting area, playing cards and reading magazines.

 

“How’s Maggie?” Lily asked her mother.

 

“Maggie?” Sam raised a questioning eyebrow. Ash smirked and took a peek at the girl’s cards, only to be slapped over the head by the blonde. “I’m watching you!”

 

“Maggie’s mom’s car.” Lily explained. “Mom likes to name things. Our other mom’s car is Sylvia, because it’s silver.”

 

“What?” the blonde teenager asked with a laugh.

 

“Well, she just calls it Sylvia when mom’s around. You should see mom’s face every time she hears the name.” Ashley grinned cheekily.

 

Cindy chuckled and then sighed. “Poor Maggie is completely dented. And she’s currently under police custody as evidence. Is it bad that I want to hit the idiot driver over the head with something like a baseball bat?”

 

They all burst out laughing.

 

******

 

Five hours later, baby Tyler was no closer to coming out into the world. Cindy had fallen asleep, head on Lindsay’s shoulder. Jacobi had ordered his inspector to stay in the hospital; they couldn’t do anything on the case until Mr. Jones popped up somewhere (he was still nowhere to be found), so she wasn’t really needed at the Hall.

 

Claire had delegated her work to her colleague Dr. Burns and had threatened to have him fired if he didn’t finish the autopsy of the maid’s body as soon as possible and without leering at her assistants. She then drove to the hospital to keep her friends company and wait.

 

Lily was on the verge of falling asleep, head on her aunt’s lap and Ashley and Samantha we’re still playing cards.

 

This was how Denise found them. Claire looked her up and down and decided that Jill wasn’t going to be repeating a pregnancy any time soon. The poor woman looked like she’d been thrown out of a moving car – she was completely dishevelled and her pristine suit had wrinkles that would take a while to straighten out.

 

“Is everything alright?”

 

“She just yells, curses and says it’s my fault and that she doesn’t want to do this ever again. And she has a really strong grip.” She shook her hand and massaged a bruise on her arm. “She also wants you to come along. The doctor is moving her now.”

 

Lily sat up, eyes wide. “Really? Baby Tyler is coming out?”

 

Denise smiled then, the widest smile Claire had ever seen on her.

 

“Well then, let’s not keep her waiting. Lord knows what she’ll do to the nurses if left on her own…”

 

They left, the remaining adults and children settling in for another long period of watching the minutes slowly go by.

 

Lily was wide-awake though and announced her need for sustenance. “I’m hungry!”

 

Lindsay fished out a few bills and gave them to the girl. The other two girls decided to accompany the younger redhead and left to the cafeteria.

 

******

 

Lily was munching happily on her muffin. She wasn’t watching where she was going and nearly collided with another person. She apologised, the man giving her a murderous glare. She scampered after her sister and Sam and turned to look at the man again. “ _Creepy_ …”

 

She stopped when they walked into a room, the girl with the man giving her a sad look, before the door closed behind them. Lily frowned, muffin forgotten.

 

Realising her sister was no longer following them, Ashley stopped and turned to look for the girl. “Lily?” she asked, waving a hand in front of the girl’s face.

 

The door opened again. The redhead girl grabbed her sister and Sam and dragged them behind a wall, peeking around the corner.

 

“ _Lily! What the hell_?” Ashley hissed.

 

“Shhh!” She gestured with a finger, eyes fixed on the creepy man.

 

He looked up and down the hall, stuck his head back in the room for a few moments and then stomped out, holding a hand to his ribs.

 

“Hey, isn’t that the guy the police is looking for?” Sam whispered to her companions.

 

“There was a girl with him just now.” Lily said, watching as the man disappeared down the corridor. She then jumped out of her hiding spot and marched to the room he had just exited.

 

Ashley’s eyes widened. “ _Lily_! What do you think you’re doing?!” But the girl wasn’t listening anymore. “Go get my mom!” The brunette told her girlfriend, who promptly broke into a run.

 

“ _Lily_!” She called again, following her sister. “Don’t even think about going into that roo-” But it was to late. Lily opened the door, making the girl curled up in one corner of the room whimper and curl into herself even further.

 

Ashley cursed her sister’s stubborn streak and took up a vigilant position at the door, keeping one eye on the corridor and one on her sister.

 

“Hey there.” The redhead said quietly, trying not to scare the other girl further. “My name’s Lily. What’s yours?”

 

The girl eyed the approaching redhead with suspicion. “Ra-Rachel…”

 

“Well Rachel, how about we get you out of here? You can even have the rest of my muffin…”

 

“I can’t. D-Daddy said n-not to leave the room until he-he came to get me. He said I shouldn’t talk to anyone, or he would hurt my mommy!”

 

“ _Lily_ …” Ashley called again, trying to get the girl to hurry up.

 

“Well Rachel, my mommy is a police officer and she won’t let anything happen to your mommy, okay?”

 

The girl looked at Lily with teary and fearful eyes. “Promise?”

 

“Yes, pinkie promise.”

 

They sealed the promise and Lily helped the girl to her feet, also giving her the rest of her muffin.

 

“Lily! We have to- Shit! He’s coming back.” Ashley turned to her sister. “Lily, take the girl and run. I’ll try and stall him. Hopefully he isn’t armed…” She opened the door wide and the two younger girls dashed down the corridor.

 

“Hey!!” The man shouted. Ashley went pale when he pulled out a gun from his jacket pocket. She turned and ran after Lily, remembering what her mother always told her about moving targets: they are always harder to hit.

 

******

 

Sam made a hard right and nearly went flying into the waiting area, waking up Cindy in the process.

 

“Jesus!” Lindsay exclaimed. “You scared me, Sam!”

 

“Ash… Lily…” Sam panted and pointed down the way she’d come from “Kidnap… the girl…”

 

The inspector jumped to her feet, jostling Cindy even more. “Stay here!” She ordered, unholstering her gun, grabbing her cell phone and calling for back up, running as fast as she could down the corridor.


	5. Chapter 5

Chaos broke out everywhere she ran past. The man was still yelling and Ashley kept running. He was catching up to her, but thankfully Lily and the girl were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they had hid somewhere.

 

Suddenly the brunette was thrown forward, as the deranged man tackled her to the ground.

 

“Where is she?!” he yelled aiming the gun at her head.

 

Ashley tried to remain calm and remember other things her mother had told her. She looked down and seeing an opening kneed the man between his legs. Hard.

 

She scrambled to her feet, the man growling in pain and anger. He grabbed her foot and dragged her down again. She kicked out with her other leg, hitting him in the chest.

 

People around them screamed, yelled and generally panicked. One doctor rushed over to help Ashley, but had to duck when the madman aimed his gun and shot, missing the doctor’s arm by mere centimetres. He then brought the butt of the gun down on Ashley’s face.

 

The brunette saw stars and heard her nose breaking and blood sprayed everywhere. “ _Fuck_!” She exclaimed, a hand going to her nose and using the other to hoist herself up.

 

“Get back here!” The shooter yelled, grabbing a fistful of the girl’s shirt and throwing her on the floor again, just as Lindsay rounded the corner, gun aimed.

 

“Police! Stop right there or I’ll shoot!”

 

Everyone froze. The man turned his wild eyes on the inspector and faster than she thought possible grabbed a nurse by the arm and used her as a shield, gun pointed at her head. “Come any closer and she’s dead!” He threatened.

 

The woman whimpered in fear and he held on tighter. Lindsay glanced briefly at her daughter, seeing her spit out a mouthful of blood, but otherwise out of danger.

 

“No one is going to die, except you, if you don’t let her go.” Lindsay threw back.

 

He sneered and shot in Ashley’s direction, hitting a doctor in the shoulder. “I said don’t come any closer! I want my daughter and I want her now!”

 

Lindsay gulped. So he was a better shot than she’d assumed. Where was that back up? She changed tactics. “Alright! Let’s all remain calm!”

 

Ashley crawled over to the fallen doctor and pressed her free hand against his bleeding shoulder. Her vision was slightly blurry from the pain of her broken nose, with blood still flowing down her face and chin and onto the floor. She looked around frantically trying to find a way to help her mother.

 

Lindsay kept trying to reason with the shooter, but she was quickly running out of options. Then she noticed her daughter moving very slowly around the emergency room, reaching for a scalpel and moving behind the man.

 

Doctors, nurses and patients, no one moved a muscle watching the scene unfold with held breath.

 

Ashley slowly moved closer to the shooter, trying not to alert him to her presence, and once she was within arms reach of his legs, she glanced at her mother.

 

Lindsay was torn between wanting to yell at her daughter not to do what she was about to do and wanting her to distract the man so she could possibly disable him. She gave an imperceptible nod and focused all her attention on the man’s hand holding the gun.

 

Ashley nodded and, after taking a deep breath, raised the scalpel and embedded it as far as it would go in the man’s knee.

 

He screamed in pain, knocking the nurse to the floor and started shooting randomly. Everyone ducked for cover, Ashley diving to the ground and out of the man’s way. Lindsay shot twice, knocking the gun out of his hand and hitting him in the other leg. She then ran over, kicking the gun out of his reach, and started reading him his rights, several officers flooding the area, followed by Jacobi and Kayla.

 

“Took you long enough…” Lindsay grumbled.

 

“Seems you dealt with the situation just fine…” Kayla commented, joining her partner. “I’ll take care of this.”

 

The brunette nodded and quickly went to her daughter’s side, where the girl was sitting on the floor, hand covering her face.

 

“Mom…” Came the slightly muffled voice.

 

“Here, let me take a look.” Lindsay grimaced when the girl moved her hand away “Oh God…” She locked gazes with her daughter. “Do you always have to get into trouble?! You’re worse than your mother!” She said heatedly.

 

The shooter was taken to an operating room, to get the bullet and scalpel out of him and the injured doctor was taken away as well.

 

A nurse knelt next to Lindsay. “We should get that fixed…” She said indicating the girl’s bloody nose. The inspector nodded and helped her daughter to her feet.

 

“Mom…?” Lily’s hesitant voice had her swivelling around on her heels.

 

“ _Lily_! Where have you been?!”

 

“Humm, hiding?” The girl said with sheepish grin. “Rachel here…” she motioned to the small girl holding tightly to her hand “…wants to see her mother.”

 

“Jacobi!” Lindsay called.

 

A female officer came to take the girl. She gave Lily a hug and thanked her for the muffin, before skipping away happily at the prospect of seeing her mother again.

 

The redhead girl grinned. “Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

 

Lindsay glared and Ashley growled. That’s when Lily noticed the state her sister was in for the first time. “Oh my God, Ash! What happened to your nose?!”

 

*******

 

_Half an hour later…_

 

Ashley held a pack of ice to her nose, trying not to whimper in pain, as the three of them walked back to where Cindy and Sam were still waiting for them. Lindsay was not happy with her daughters’ actions and made it very clear that they were both grounded for two weeks.

 

“I’m so sorry, Ash.” Lily apologised.

 

Ashley settled an arm around the girl’s shoulders, patting her arm. “S’okay…”

 

“At least it was easy to fix… I bet Sam will find it cool to have a girlfriend that has a broken nose because she was trying to save a little girl!” The redhead said cheerily. She then winced at her mother’s shrill cry.

 

“BROKEN NOSE??!!” Cindy yelled, shooting to her feet and stalking over to her daughters. “Officer Montoya didn’t say anything about a broken nose! You’re grounded! Both of you!”

 

“Mom already grounded us for two weeks…” Lily said, not looking at her irate mother.

 

“Well, I’m grounding you for two more!” Cindy stated. “You should know better than to-”

 

A baby crying stopped the redhead’s rant. They all turned around as one, to see Denise holding the newborn Tyler, an idiotic grin on her face.

 

Claire looked over her friends, one by one. “I’m gone for little over an hour and you all look like three days have passed and you didn’t get any sleep. Do you care to explain what happened?”

 

******

 

“He’s cute!” Lily giggled, one of her fingers held tightly in Tyler’s tiny hand.

 

“Of course he’s cute! He’s my baby!” Jill stated, a proud grin on her face. Then she turned to Denise. “You carry the next one. I am _NOT_ doing this again!” She said seriously. Lindsay, Cindy and Claire laughed.

 

“Oh look! He’s got blue eyes!” Lily said when the baby opened his eyes and looked at her.

 

Ashley and Sam joined Lily on the small couch in the room and cooed at little Tyler. He yawned and they all smiled widely at him.

 

Jill yawned as well. Claire chuckled and gave her friend a pat on the hand “It wasn’t so bad, now was it?” The attorney gave her the finger.

 

The M.E. chuckled at her friend’s colourful rebuke and turned to the awed teenagers. “Girls, give Tyler back to Mama Jill so they can get some sleep…” The girls pouted. “… And we can all come back when we’re all rested and feeling better.” She looked pointedly at Ashley and her bandaged nose.

 

Lily handed the baby back to his mother, and after a quick goodbye, they all left, leaving the two very besotted Jill and Denise smiling down at their baby.


End file.
